more on the (mostly) non-financial planning of the home stretch?

[mtnrider]

I was just re-reading the pre-FIRE checklist.  It's quite useful, but I'm looking for more preparatory reading material.  (Added my own bit there too.)

Are there any blog posts, forum posts, or journals about prepping during the last year? 

There's so (!) much written about the financial side of things.  Finances are important, but I'm looking for the "other things", many of which I suspect I don't yet know.  For instance, I haven't read too much about how people have navigated FIRE with families, specifically when others in the family still work.  I'm sure there's more that I just haven't recognized yet!

[zolotiyeruki]

The post-Fire subforum may be a good place to ask this sort of question

[Sandi_k]

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-5-years-before-you-retire-retirement-planning-when-you-need-it-the-most_emily-guy-birken/3143110/item/11048281/?gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUIfH6FH2MYpElryXlsu6CCA9pUWR5mKPZUQ8pYjEkATg5GYKJp3gXBoC36MQAvD_BwE#idiq=11048281&edition=7685242

The blurb:

A comprehensive guide to planning your retirement before it's too late Even though half of all Americans put money aside for retirement, it isn't until they reach their sixties that many realize that they haven't saved enough. With The Five Years Before You Retire , you'll hone in on what you need to do in the next five years to maximize your current savings and create a realistic plan for your future. This book guides you through each financial, medical, and familial decision, from taking advantage of the employer match your company offers for your 401k program to enrolling in Medicare to discussing housing options with your family. Covering every aspect of retirement planning, these straightforward strategies explain in detail how you can make the most of your last few years in the workforce and prepare for the future you've always wanted. Whether you just started devising a plan or have been saving since your first job, The Five Years Before You Retire will show you what you need to do now to ensure that you live comfortably for years to come.

[Anon-E-Mouze]

Tanja Hester's book Work Optional has some good planning tools for the non-financial and financial aspects of FIRE.

[mtnrider]

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-5-years-before-you-retire-retirement-planning-when-you-need-it-the-most_emily-guy-birken/3143110/item/11048281/?gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUIfH6FH2MYpElryXlsu6CCA9pUWR5mKPZUQ8pYjEkATg5GYKJp3gXBoC36MQAvD_BwE#idiq=11048281&edition=7685242

That book looks interesting.

While looking at that site, I noticed How to Retire Wild Happy and Free.  I'm going to have to read this book based on the cover alone!

[Kris]

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-5-years-before-you-retire-retirement-planning-when-you-need-it-the-most_emily-guy-birken/3143110/item/11048281/?gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUIfH6FH2MYpElryXlsu6CCA9pUWR5mKPZUQ8pYjEkATg5GYKJp3gXBoC36MQAvD_BwE#idiq=11048281&edition=7685242

That book looks interesting.

While looking at that site, I noticed How to Retire Wild Happy and Free.  I'm going to have to read this book based on the cover alone!

My husband and I both read the Happy, Wild, and Free book when he was getting close to retiring. I think it helped him a lot. It’s what I was going to jump in here to recommend.

[Dicey]

After years of ERE, MMM, etc. I found Ernie Z's books a bit underwhelming, but I saved them for DH. Recently, I picked one up and found it pretty dated as well. Not completely dismissing EZ, but suggest you try the library first instead of buying it new.

[Kris]

After years of ERE, MMM, etc. I found Ernie Z's books a bit underwhelming, but I saved them for DH. Recently, I picked one up and found it pretty dated as well. Not completely dismissing EZ, but suggest you try the library first.

I can see this. EZ helped my DH, but he isn’t on any of the FIRE forums.

[mtnrider]

You're right folks - I skimmed the table of contents and reviews.  It seems aimed at my dad's generation, and heavy on inspiration with relatively little new material for me.  I love the cover though!

Now amazon and goodreads are feeding me lots of retirement books, many with "purpose" in their name.  I'm not sure I quite need that either since I have so much I want to do.  I could be that I've found the 80% of of retirement prep already.

[wageslave23]

I find that self help/guide books are a waste of time. They usually have about 10 pages worth of useful/novel information and then the other 200 pages are just filler. The only reason people write a book instead of a blog post is so that they can say they "wrote a book".  Give me your 10 best bullets points in a blog post or two and you can keep your book.  I think authors think their knowledge is more important than it is.

[DaTrill]

I've been semi-retired several times and the transitions did not bother me.  I always had some activity to pursue that the job was not allowing.  I'd RE now again if travel to pursue an activity were back to normal.  IMHO, the transition is difficult for people who attach their ego to their job status.  Most people who care about another person job status are not worth interacting with, so a good filter.   

[Anon-E-Mouze]

Tanja Hester's book Work Optional has some good planning tools for the non-financial and financial aspects of FIRE.

I also just noticed that you can get the Kindle version very cheaply at the moment (C$2.99 for me right now). I originally borrowed the book from the library, but @wageslave23's hyperbole caused me to go back and check the book on Amazon again. Since it is one example of a self-help book that I found useful and was planning to read again, I decided to buy the Kindle version.

[mtnrider]

I also just noticed that you can get the Kindle version very cheaply at the moment (C$2.99 for me right now). I originally borrowed the book from the library, but @wageslave23's hyperbole caused me to go back and check the book on Amazon again. Since it is one example of a self-help book that I found useful and was planning to read again, I decided to buy the Kindle version.

Ah, I see it for US$0.99.  I'll skim it for new info.

I agree that there's often what appears to be filler to those already very familiar a self-help subject.  I assume that's because they're targeting a wide audience, and that all that storytelling has more lasting impact on a reader than a list of bullet points. 

[Moustachienne]

For a very useful analysis of life stages and transitions, William Bridges is the guy.  His classic Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes was recently re-issued. https://wmbridges.com/books/
Widely available at libraries, on Amazon, etc.

Pre-retirement, I found his ideas of life stages based on Hindu and Jungian thinking very thought provoking.  People who FIRE are upending strong cultural expectations about how long the career stage is "supposed" to last (and what it's supposed to look like) so it's good to think about what the Householder (building family/career) stage might look like if you're not on a typical wage earning path during those years.

[CowboyAndIndian]

I was just re-reading the pre-FIRE checklist.  It's quite useful, but I'm looking for more preparatory reading material.  (Added my own bit there too.)

Are there any blog posts, forum posts, or journals about prepping during the last year? 

There's so (!) much written about the financial side of things.  Finances are important, but I'm looking for the "other things", many of which I suspect I don't yet know.  For instance, I haven't read too much about how people have navigated FIRE with families, specifically when others in the family still work.  I'm sure there's more that I just haven't recognized yet!

Have you read Dr. Doom (livingafi.com). He has some wonderful posts on how to prepare for FIRE. How to fill you time, how to draw down. Other than MMM, he was the blogger who resonated with me.

[Morning Glory]

Following: I had such a whirlwind of a year getting all the financial stuff ready (and, you know, working) that I left a lot of the mental preparation stuff on the back burner, other than daydreaming about which hobbies I wanted to try once I finally got time for them.   

You might check out the journals of some of the recently-fired among us.

I noticed Tanja Hester's book at the library last weekend but passed it over because I already had an armload of books to check out. Maybe I'll put it on my TBR list for the next trip.

[mspym]

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-5-years-before-you-retire-retirement-planning-when-you-need-it-the-most_emily-guy-birken/3143110/item/11048281/?gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUIfH6FH2MYpElryXlsu6CCA9pUWR5mKPZUQ8pYjEkATg5GYKJp3gXBoC36MQAvD_BwE#idiq=11048281&edition=7685242

That book looks interesting.

While looking at that site, I noticed How to Retire Wild Happy and Free.  I'm going to have to read this book based on the cover alone!

I bought the Zelinski book from there and wouldn't really recommend it. The best part is the get a life tree and you can get that from Google. So much of the book is spent convincing the reader that retiring is a good idea and if you're in the Mmm forums, that's probably not something you need to be sold on. The Designing Your Life book is more useful.

[Siebrie]

Maybe your pension provider offers a course? In The Netherlands (where I'm from) some pension providers offer people a course on how to navigate retirement; a group of future retirees and their spouses/partners/best friends spend 3 days in a hotel and discuss all possible impacts retirement can have, including health, financial and (single's and couple's) psychological advice.

[mtnrider]

You might check out the journals of some of the recently-fired among us.

Do you have a suggestion for one or two that you find good?

[secondcor521]

You might check out the journals of some of the recently-fired among us.

Do you have a suggestion for one or two that you find good?

Mine is excellent.  :)

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/february-19-2016/

[mtnrider]

Maybe your pension provider offers a course?

Ha!  While I love the software industry in the US, non-monetary benefits are focused on the young, hard-driving professionals. 

I can get a financial review from the 401k provider, which could be useful.  I'll probably only do that towards the end of the year.

[mtnrider]

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/journals/february-19-2016/

I will check it out! 

[mtnrider]

@secondcor521 - it turns out that I actually read your journal a while back.  It was good.  I liked the idea of using multiples of monthly expenses to avoid posting raw dollar amounts.

@CowboyAndIndian - Dr. Doom is interesting.  He seemed well prepared back in 2014 and 2015.  But then the update in 2021 of his health troubles, along with the divorce torpedoing his financial plans was instructive.  The "superplan" may not work when the variables change.  My first thoughts about this are
  1) to try to game out a few common ways things can go wrong and see if there are reasonable contingency plans for those cases (along these lines - invest in time with your friends and your partner, before troubles start)
  2) understand that it's just not going to be possible to plan for everything - be prepared, but to also be flexible
  3) that going back to work may not be a personal failure.
So it's more about wayfinding and less navigation (Designing Your Life talk link).

I have a copy of World & Time Enough now too.

[Dreamer40]

I would recommend reading “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown. It’s not all a retirement book and actually talks about career stuff a lot. But the ideas in it have been useful for me in the early phases of my retirement. It’s about figuring out where you want to go big in life and cutting out all the rest. Not that you need any big goals in retirement. But I found it easy to get sucked into all kinds of random stuff without choosing what was actually important to me. You have to take a lot of responsibility/ownership over your time in retirement that’s easy to not do when working (unless you’re self employed).

[goat_music_generator]

Things I'm glad I did before FI:
* Built up exercise habits
* Built relationships with other people and other hobbies

Things I'm not glad I did right around FI:
* Moved across the country. This made a lot of sense for us to do financially and otherwise, but it made the transition way harder because I'm now stuck trying to meet people in a (mostly) new city.
... and also made some of those habits reset in a not-so-great way.

Also, I thought I'd get into gardening after FI. Had I ever gardened before? No. Did I successfully "get into" gardening that year? Also no. I'm starting again this year with one (1) plant and we'll see where we get from there.